FRANCE: Interior minister condemns attack on far-left activist by "skinheads", calls for their speedy arrest

Record ID: 353866

  • Title: FRANCE: Interior minister condemns attack on far-left activist by "skinheads", calls for their speedy arrest
  • Date: 6th June 2013
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 6, 2013) (REUTERS) POLICE AND MEDIA ON STREET POLICEMAN STREET VARIOUS OF BLOOD STAINS ON STREET CURB FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER MANUEL VALLS ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER MANUEL VALLS SAYING: "Obviously, this young man Clement, is a committed leftist activist. As of now, the group in question has a circle of influence linked to the far r
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2013 13:00
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  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAMHRH3BK55ERS3TDVF4BLSWU2
  • Story Text: French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday (June 6) condemned an attack in Paris on a far-left activist by "skinheads", calling for the speedy arrest of the perpetrators.
    Clement Meric, a 19-year old student at the Sciences Po university in central Paris and a far-left activist was attacked by far-right activists near the Saint Lazare train station on Wednesday evening.
    "Obviously, this young man Clement, is a committed leftist activist. As of now, the group in question has a circle of influence linked to the far right. This seems obvious," Valls told reporters at the scene of the incident.
    "Above the thoughts which go out to this young man and his family, above the outrage and the strongest condemnation, what is essential now is the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators of this violence," he added.
    An eye-witness to the incident, Hauda Fryde, recalled the event and described who she said was one of the attackers.
    "With a man, other people were surrounding him, because we saw him in passing, we didn't understand what happened, we just saw someone jumping, shouting. So it was really very fast, we weren't able to do anything, it was so fast that I can't even tell you what the person looked like. I just saw him because I work in this area where one looks at people. His clothing, his shaved head, small, thickset," she said.
    Fryde said he was wearing "a jacket with a France patch, large cowboy boots and he had something in his fist."
    Fryde also expressed her frustration and anger at recent acts of violence in the country.
    "This must stop, this must stop. These demonstrations left, right and centre, it's rubbish. It's little things, we are in France, we're a country of equality, freedom. It must stop, this excessive violence must now stop. I am a mother and one can no longer accept such things. It's unacceptable," she said.
    A French soldier was stabbed during a patrol in the west of Paris last month, in what prosecutors say was a religiously motivated attack.
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